Observation/Reflection #4 - What Was the Question?
This week, try to pay attention to how your teacher asks questions and facilitates discussion in his or her classes. What types of questions does your CT ask? Are most of the questions asking students to relay facts or textbook definitions (recall) or to apply a concept to a new situation or compare it to another concept (application or analysis). Does your teacher ever encourage his or her students to be critical or skeptical? If so, when and how? Does your CT ever ask students to provide evidence to support a claim or explain their thinking? Does your teacher facilitate classroom discussion so that students are expressing scientific ideas to other students? Finally, does your CT vary the type of questions he or she asks depending on the level of the class, or the perceived ability of the student? Remember to reflect on what types of classroom discourse you want to foster in your classroom, how you will go about doing this, and why.
Observations:
This week I observed in Mrs. Howell's class and helped her out as the students reviewed for a quiz on mass, volume, density and measurements. The first part of the day was a planning period where Mrs. Howell and I went over how we would help the class review and clear up any misunderstandings. She had a few errands to run for most of the period so I had the opportunity to observe one of the 8th grade science classes with Mr. Schaffer. During this period his class was in the planetarium learning about astronomy, different constellations and how earth's motion affects their positions in viewing the night sky. Mr. Schaffer provided a plethora of information to his students, which he continually noted, but there were not many questions as to what he was explaining. He asked the class questions about changing the darkness and cloudiness of the simulated sky and where they thought the stars would be at different periods of the night based on the rotation of earth. After this class I returned to Mrs. Howell's room for observations.
The first thing her classes did today was an "I-See" activity where each table was given a sheet on a different element that listed chemical properties of the element ans some interesting facts about it. Mrs. Howell always does the "I-See" activity at the beginning of class
where students are given some media form of information and asked to write comments and reflections on it. As students are doing this Mrs. Howell walks around and checks off the homework which was a study guide to prepare them for the quiz. Once students are finished, Mrs. Howell directs the students' attention to the back of the element sheet that has a short worksheet asking question about the mass and density of some given substances. As she goes over the answers she asks the students questions like, "Can you figure out the mass of an object if you are given its density?"and "How do you know if these substances will float or sink in mercury?" After this she went over the homework because she wanted to make sure everyone was studying the correct ideas and equations in preparation for the quiz. One of the items asked how to measure the volume of an object that was irregularlly shaped and most of the students knew to use displacement of water to figure it out. Another question asked to explain the difference between weight and mass, which many students did not understand from last class, but here most of them knew about gravitational pull. Finally, she returned their correction sheets for the last quiz, which she reviewed and made corrections if the student had not successfully fixed their mistakes. Here she and I split into teams focusing on fixing specific problems. One student could not figure out a question he got wrong that asked for the units of density which he said was mLs. Mrs. Howell asked him if he knew the formula for density and he replied D=m/V. One of the other studentys interjected and gave him the answer, but she persisted asking him to explain why g/mL was a proper unit of measure for density. He then realized that his mistake was that he didn't give the full units and that density has two components.
Reflections:
I find that a lot of the questions Mrs. Howell asks in class are the same questions that students have been given in advance either on homework assignments or in class activities. This may seem repetitive, but it gives students a chance to reflect and really think about how to answer the questions. The way she designed her study guide was not simply to write definitions of matter, mass, volume, etc. She actually wanted the students to apply their knowledge of these terms to a situation and explain why they proceeded with a particular method or answer. In some places the use of science was math practice because the students were expected to know equations and use them to figure out the answer. Most of the questions Mrs. Howell asked involved application and analysis to new information, but when students were having trouble with this, as the student who didn't write the correct units for density did, she went back to simple recall of the formula for density, which eventually cleared up the student's misunderstanding. The question comparing mass and weight suggests that there is a difference, but some students still thought there was no difference. When Mrs. Howell heard this first answer she asked, "well, is there really a difference between the two?" and at once of the students spoke up about the pull of gravity causing many others to come out and agree. Many of the students knew the definitions of weight and mass, but didn't make the connection to how they were different until they talked about it in class. If Mrs. Howell hadn't used that question for the study guide some students who could recall all the facts and definitions still might not have made the connection and differentiation between mass and weight. This extra step in analyzing the definitions helped many students have a better understanding of why and when to use mass or weight in measurements.
I really think Mrs. Howell asks the right questions and uses the proper techniques to stimulate learning in her students and evolve their learning to higher levels where they can apply what they know to new situations. She also faciliates discussion on the topic by asking a question then having the students share with their neighbor before giving out the answer. This way students are sharing ideas and maybe building upon what the other person has to say to create a complete idea or even a new idea. Even if the answer isn't correct they should at least have something to share out through the collaborative efforts. This environment of sharing and building upon ideas is definitely something I would hope for in my classroom. I want to be able to ask questions that will not always have an immediate answer like recall, but I want to ask questions that students will need to discuss with their classmates to develop an answer that can't always be found in a text book. I would go about this much in the way Mrs. Howell does by asking for an explanation that require students to show all the steps they took to come up with an answer. THinking through school work, like explaining a science concept, may help students think critically about other problems in or outside of school and make good decision based on what they analyzed as possible outcomes.
Class Topic: Science Grade: 7 Observed by: Beth Copeley
Observation/Reflection #4 - What Was the Question?
This week, try to pay attention to how your teacher asks questions and facilitates discussion in his or her classes. What types of questions does your CT ask? Are most of the questions asking students to relay facts or textbook definitions (recall) or to apply a concept to a new situation or compare it to another concept (application or analysis). Does your teacher ever encourage his or her students to be critical or skeptical? If so, when and how? Does your CT ever ask students to provide evidence to support a claim or explain their thinking? Does your teacher facilitate classroom discussion so that students are expressing scientific ideas to other students? Finally, does your CT vary the type of questions he or she asks depending on the level of the class, or the perceived ability of the student? Remember to reflect on what types of classroom discourse you want to foster in your classroom, how you will go about doing this, and why.Observations:
This week I observed in Mrs. Howell's class and helped her out as the students reviewed for a quiz on mass, volume, density and measurements. The first part of the day was a planning period where Mrs. Howell and I went over how we would help the class review and clear up any misunderstandings. She had a few errands to run for most of the period so I had the opportunity to observe one of the 8th grade science classes with Mr. Schaffer. During this period his class was in the planetarium learning about astronomy, different constellations and how earth's motion affects their positions in viewing the night sky. Mr. Schaffer provided a plethora of information to his students, which he continually noted, but there were not many questions as to what he was explaining. He asked the class questions about changing the darkness and cloudiness of the simulated sky and where they thought the stars would be at different periods of the night based on the rotation of earth. After this class I returned to Mrs. Howell's room for observations.The first thing her classes did today was an "I-See" activity where each table was given a sheet on a different element that listed chemical properties of the element ans some interesting facts about it. Mrs. Howell always does the "I-See" activity at the beginning of class
where students are given some media form of information and asked to write comments and reflections on it. As students are doing this Mrs. Howell walks around and checks off the homework which was a study guide to prepare them for the quiz. Once students are finished, Mrs. Howell directs the students' attention to the back of the element sheet that has a short worksheet asking question about the mass and density of some given substances. As she goes over the answers she asks the students questions like, "Can you figure out the mass of an object if you are given its density?"and "How do you know if these substances will float or sink in mercury?" After this she went over the homework because she wanted to make sure everyone was studying the correct ideas and equations in preparation for the quiz. One of the items asked how to measure the volume of an object that was irregularlly shaped and most of the students knew to use displacement of water to figure it out. Another question asked to explain the difference between weight and mass, which many students did not understand from last class, but here most of them knew about gravitational pull. Finally, she returned their correction sheets for the last quiz, which she reviewed and made corrections if the student had not successfully fixed their mistakes. Here she and I split into teams focusing on fixing specific problems. One student could not figure out a question he got wrong that asked for the units of density which he said was mLs. Mrs. Howell asked him if he knew the formula for density and he replied D=m/V. One of the other studentys interjected and gave him the answer, but she persisted asking him to explain why g/mL was a proper unit of measure for density. He then realized that his mistake was that he didn't give the full units and that density has two components.
Reflections:
I find that a lot of the questions Mrs. Howell asks in class are the same questions that students have been given in advance either on homework assignments or in class activities. This may seem repetitive, but it gives students a chance to reflect and really think about how to answer the questions. The way she designed her study guide was not simply to write definitions of matter, mass, volume, etc. She actually wanted the students to apply their knowledge of these terms to a situation and explain why they proceeded with a particular method or answer. In some places the use of science was math practice because the students were expected to know equations and use them to figure out the answer. Most of the questions Mrs. Howell asked involved application and analysis to new information, but when students were having trouble with this, as the student who didn't write the correct units for density did, she went back to simple recall of the formula for density, which eventually cleared up the student's misunderstanding. The question comparing mass and weight suggests that there is a difference, but some students still thought there was no difference. When Mrs. Howell heard this first answer she asked, "well, is there really a difference between the two?" and at once of the students spoke up about the pull of gravity causing many others to come out and agree. Many of the students knew the definitions of weight and mass, but didn't make the connection to how they were different until they talked about it in class. If Mrs. Howell hadn't used that question for the study guide some students who could recall all the facts and definitions still might not have made the connection and differentiation between mass and weight. This extra step in analyzing the definitions helped many students have a better understanding of why and when to use mass or weight in measurements.I really think Mrs. Howell asks the right questions and uses the proper techniques to stimulate learning in her students and evolve their learning to higher levels where they can apply what they know to new situations. She also faciliates discussion on the topic by asking a question then having the students share with their neighbor before giving out the answer. This way students are sharing ideas and maybe building upon what the other person has to say to create a complete idea or even a new idea. Even if the answer isn't correct they should at least have something to share out through the collaborative efforts. This environment of sharing and building upon ideas is definitely something I would hope for in my classroom. I want to be able to ask questions that will not always have an immediate answer like recall, but I want to ask questions that students will need to discuss with their classmates to develop an answer that can't always be found in a text book. I would go about this much in the way Mrs. Howell does by asking for an explanation that require students to show all the steps they took to come up with an answer. THinking through school work, like explaining a science concept, may help students think critically about other problems in or outside of school and make good decision based on what they analyzed as possible outcomes.
Class Topic: Science
Grade: 7
Observed by: Beth Copeley